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A PAIR of entrepreneurs have created the world’s first battery-powered chewing gum removal machine which is proving popular around the globe.

Jared Brading and Martin Whitbread produced the Steam-e machine in Fareham. The device costs £2,800 and so far about 1,700 orders have been placed from countries including America, Australia and Japan.

Previously, chewing gum was removed using a gas machine, but that led to health and safety concerns. The battery-powered machine works by using a sugar bean plant which turns chewing gum into a fine foam which is released into the environment safely and sustainably within five seconds.

Mr Brading, managing director of Steam-e, said: ‘Previously chewing gum removal was a very specialist and difficult operation often requiring days at a time and street closures.

‘This is an out-of-the-box plug-and-place solution that anyone can use. This machine means it costs less than one penny to remove a piece of chewing gum.

‘We are really ecstatic. We feel we have got the right solution for a clean environment.’

What it is being designed for affects every village, town and city in the country

Councillor Frank Jonas, Lord Mayor of Portsmouth

The Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, councillor Frank Jonas was there to officially unveil the machine at a reception at the Square Tower in Old Portsmouth.

He said: ‘What it is being designed for affects every village, town and city in the country.

‘This machine is so compact and easy to operate that it can transform the removal of gum, making it a much better environment for everybody to live in.

‘They are local boys who have got together and designed and built it in Great Britain. I think that counts for a lot.’

Malcolm Pollard is the sales executive for I-mop Revolutionary Cleaning, which offers cleaning services to Portsmouth City Council. He said: ‘If it’s what it promises to be, it’s going to be a real breakthrough in chewing gum cleaning.’